Chris Thomas King is accomplished across a spectrum of styles from acoustic Delta blues to electric Chicago blues, country and rock. Courtesy photo

Acclaimed for singing and acting in the Oscar-winning movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and winning a Grammy for his work on the soundtrack of the Ray Charles biopic “Ray,” Chris Thomas King will perform Oct. 23 and Oct. 25 at the Maui Jazz & Blues Festival at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua.

With record sales over 10 million, King has been praised as one of the most vital creative forces working in blues. Accomplished across a spectrum of styles from acoustic Delta blues to electric Chicago blues and country on his album “Hotel Voodoo,” he opened with the rousing rock anthem “American Man (In the Key of Free).”

From there this versatile artist delivered a fervent declaration on “Les Bleus Was Born In Louisiana,” that New Orleans is the real home of the blues, and unleashed his explosive guitar playing on “Friday Night Blue.” He ventured into Stevie Ray Vaughan rocking blues territory on “Have You Seen My Princess,” eased down with the Cajun flavored “Rainbow Lullaby,” and even covered Adele’s “Someone Like You.”

“My philosophy on the blues is unique,” King explained. “My philosophy is very broad. I feel I never have to leave the blues to do something unique and different musically. I’m from the culture that gave us the blues. It’s been around over 100 years, and it’s gone through so many facets. Sometimes I delve into the blues from its roots and then I can imagine its future. There’s a broad palette with lots of different colors to paint with.”

On earlier albums like “21st Century Blues … From Da’ Hood,” he merged blues and hip-hop, embraced Prince flavored funk on “Cry of the Prophets,” and in 1998, he released the country-acoustic blues album “Red Mud.”

An AllMusic review of his album “Why My Guitar Screams & Moans” praised: “Most contemporary blues players use the blues as a way to connect with the past, while King uses the form as a fulcrum to vault into the 21st century, which explains why his guitar lines scream and moan more than they gently weep.”

While the Mississippi Delta is considered the birthplace of the blues, this Baton Rouge-born musician disagrees, as he points out on “Les Bleus Was Born In Louisiana.” In 2021, he published the book “The Blues: The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture,” where he researched how the blues originated in Louisiana.

“I’m kind of the lone voice,” he said. “This whole idea that blues came from the Mississippi Delta is a myth. It never happened. When Buddy Bolden was playing the blues in New Orleans and Jelly Roll Morton was creating music, people didn’t even live in the Mississippi Delta. There was nobody there to make music until the 20th century, and the blues had already been established in New Orleans. The blues left Louisiana and went to the Delta and Memphis and Chicago, and made its way to London and came back to us in the ’60s.”

A multi-talented artist who has played electric and acoustic guitars, accordion, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, bass and piano on his albums, King began his career as a teenager playing in his father’s club, Tabby’s Blues Box and Heritage Hall, in Baton Rouge. The blues venue became quite famous, attracting celebrities like Mike Tyson, Paul Newman, Bruce Springsteen and Shaquille O’Neal.

“My father, Rockin’ Tabby Thomas, opened what they call a juke joint in 1979,” he noted. “It was a family business, so if the drummer didn’t show up, I played drums, and if the bass player didn’t show up, I had to play the bass. I started there, and my recording break came when a (Smithsonian) folklorist ‘discovered’ me at my dad’s place. I think I was the last blues artist to come into the business through a folklorist. Lead Belly and Muddy Waters came in through the Library of Congress. I was the last one to come out of that tradition.”

King’s role as Delta bluesman Tommy Johnson in the Coen brothers’ film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” earned him a Grammy for Album of the Year for his contribution to the soundtrack.

“The movie and soundtrack and sold-out arena tour all over the United States put me in a different place,” he recalled. “It transformed me like taking a straitjacket off.”

Then came the Oscar-winning “Ray,” where he played band leader and blues guitar player Lowell Fulson, which increased his exposure.

“Both of these films were huge box office successes,” he said. “I’ve been very fortunate.”

King will perform Oct. 23 and Oct. 25 at the Maui Jazz & Blues Festival at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. He plays with the Maui Jazz & Blues Festival Trio on Oct. 23. Tickets are $10. The festival’s main event will be from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Aloha Garden Pavilion.

The festival lineup also includes Grammy-nominated saxophonist Eric Marienthal, Cajun Grammy-winner Wilson Savoy, New Orleans roots rock band The Iguanas, saxophonist/Big Chief of The Congo Square Nation Afro-New Orleans Cultural Group Donald Harrison, New Orleans trombonist Charlie Halloran, Cajun star Jourdan Thibodeaux, and Grammy-nominated accordion player Roddie Romero.

Tickets for the main event are $145 for general admission and $245 for VIP seating. A limited number of VIP tables are available for $2,000. Tickets are available at mauijazzandbluesfestival.com.